Canadian company proposes new plant in Jamaica

In Jamaica, local media is reporting that Canadian company Cemcorp plans to build a 1.5 million tpa cement plant in St Catherine at an investment of US$340 million.

Cemcorp, which trades in Jamaica as Cement Jamaica Limited, plans to utilize red mud in the mix, extracted from waste ponds created by bauxite company Windalco. According to plans submitted to the National Environment and Planning Agency, the plant will take 30 months to build and will produce 900 000 t of cement in its first year of production, slated for 2013. Once fully established, the company plans to export about 75% of its production, making use of its planned location at Port Esquivel, which will provide good links to neighbouring Caribbean islands, including Haiti.

Increasing competition

At present, Caribbean Cement Company Limited (CCCL) is the only cement manufacturer based in Jamaica, and is owned by Trinidad Cement Limited, which holds a monopoly over the Caribbean Community’s cement production facilities. The proposed new facility would increase competition in the market, perhaps resulting in reduced prices across the board.

Raw mix

Cement Jamaica plans to usilise gypsum acquired from the TCL Group’s Rockfort facilities, and will also expand the existing quarrying operations in Clarendon with the intention of transporting limestone to the new plant via an enclosed overland conveyor system. For the final raw mix component, the company has proposed a waste product from the bauxite industry – specifically from Windalco’s Ewarton and/or Mandeville facilities. These can be transported via train or truck to Windalco’s port at Port Esquivel; Cement Jamaica has a cooperative agreement with Windalco to increase utilisation of the port, which would serve the company well in its export endeavours.

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/the-americas/20012011/canadian-company-proposes-new-plant-in-jamaica/